Two Kingfisher Airlines flights were cancelled on Wednesday after a trolley van hit the staircase of a Kingfisher passenger aircraft at the city airport around 3.30am. Airline officials said the fuel tank and the air-conditioning system of the aircraft were damaged because of the collision. It was sent for repairs. No passenger was in the aircraft during the collision.

A trader received two extortion calls over the past five days, allegedly from a goon who is lodged in one of the correctional homes in the city. Police said Zulfiquar Ali, 40, who owns an air-conditioner repair shop in Babu Hakkak Lane near Park Circus, had lodged a complaint with Karaya police station alleging that he had received the calls from a man who had introduced himself as Tausif and claimed to be in a jail.

Two men were arrested on Tuesday evening for allegedly cheating a shopowner in Fancy Market. Police said Rakesh Yadav, the business partner of the complainant, Shahnawaz Khan, stole pages from Khan’s cheque book and withdrew Rs 41,500 on Tuesday afternoon. Officials of the bank suspected foul play when he sent an aide, Nivas Kumar Singh, to encash another cheque for Rs 39,000 drawn on the same account. An official of the bank contacted Khan and found that Singh was trying to withdraw cash without his consent.

A mason named Noor Hasan Sardar, 38, was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly raping a 17-year-old girl. The victim, who hails from Mathurapur in South 24-Parganas, had left home with her friend after a tiff with her mother. The friend, a mason, brought her to his workplace in New Alipore. Sardar, who worked at the same site, took her to Diamond Harbour and allegedly raped her. The girl’s maternal uncle lodged a complaint with New Alipore police station on Tuesday morning.

Twenty-two taps were stolen from the Netaji Subhas building of Presidency University between April 4 and May 2. Police arrested a 30-year-old man and recovered 20 of the stolen taps. All the taps, made of iron and steel, were stolen from a toilet on the third floor of the building. “Based on a compliant lodged by the vice-chancellor of Presidency University, we have arrested Sheikh Chand,” said Damayanti Sen, the joint commissioner of police (crime).

The West Bengal School Service Commission announced the final merit list for filling up headmaster and headmistress posts in nearly 784 state-aided schools on Wednesday. The counselling of the selected candidates will begin on May 19, said Ranajit Basu, the chairman of the commission.

A domestic help has allegedly stolen a diamond-studded gold necklace and silver utensils worth around Rs 1.5 lakh from the Sarat Bose Road house of a trader. Mahesh Kumar Killa, the trader, lodged a complaint with Bhowanipore police station on Tuesday accusing 36-year-old Minu Sardar of the theft.
ardar, who had been working for the family for six years, left for her Kakdwip house in South 24-Parganas on April 24 “to vote”. The Killas realised recently that she was not coming back and lodged the complaint.

A woman in her early-50s was hit by a motorcycle at the crossing of AT Chowdhury Avenue and Iron Side Road in Ballygunge on Wednesday afternoon. She was declared dead at National Medical College and Hospital.